There has always been a fascination in death and violence present in our society. From public execution to war films, our society gathered around death as a form of entertainment. Photographs by...Show moreThere has always been a fascination in death and violence present in our society. From public execution to war films, our society gathered around death as a form of entertainment. Photographs by Weegee uncovered this fascination and he exaggerated it using various photographic techniques. Portraying the period of socioeconomic struggle of post-war America, his photographs exposed the raw human emotions which emanates from witnessing the extremity of murders. Weegee captured the process of individuals’ pains turning into the spectacle of the public through “Their First Murder” and “Balcony Seats At A Murder”. Us, as the viewers, then view the subjects depicted in the photograph as a spectacle, creating a chain of gaze. Using theories of Susan Sontag, Mark Seltzer, and the politics of gaze, the essay will investigate the intention behind Weegee’s exaggerated representation of his subject.Show less
Bachelor thesis | Film- en literatuurwetenschap (BA)
closed access
In this text, I conduct a historical exploration of the theoretical evolution of both the reader in literary studies and viewer in film studies. Spanning from Antiquities right up to contemporary...Show moreIn this text, I conduct a historical exploration of the theoretical evolution of both the reader in literary studies and viewer in film studies. Spanning from Antiquities right up to contemporary criticism, I illuminate their parallel, yet differing, transformations. In both disciplines, the theoretical reader or viewer are initially hypothetical, static, passive entities in object-centric, meaning film or text focused, modes of study. The theory of both film and literary studies eventually evolves to reverse that initial perspective of, and approach to, the relationship of the film or text to its viewer or reader, respectively. Both disciplines follow alternative paths which results in varying nuances and repercussions for their unique conceptions of the reading or viewing subject, the textual or filmic object, and their relation to each other. This work not only explores the evolutions of these disciplines regarding their subject, object, and the relationship thereof, but also examines said variations, nuances, and repercussions encountered to highlight that their greatest divergences stem from their political anchorages. In the end, we achieve a means by which we may draw comparisons between both these two disciplines regarding various conceptions of the reader, viewer, film, and text; enriching the field of Reader(ship), Viewer(ship), and Audience studies by approaching them from a combined perspective.Show less
